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FAQ: Federal pay and benefits questions answered as feds return to work

(This story was updated Oct. 18, 2013, at 1:10 p.m. to include information
about new guidance from the Office of Personnel
Management.)

The 16-day government shutdown is finally over and thousands of federal employees
are now back on the job. But many feds still have lingering questions about how
the shutdown will affect their pay and benefits.

Federal News Radio has combed through the legislation reopening the government
and the latest OPM regulations to answer readers' question. If you don't see your
question answered here, email us. We'll update this article as more information
becomes available.

Q: Will I receive back pay?

Back pay for all furloughed feds and excepted employees was guaranteed under the
legislation signed into law
early Thursday morning.

In guidance issued Oct. 17, the Office of Personnel
Management says all employees will receive their rate of basic pay, which they
would have received but for the lapse in congressional appropriations on Oct. 1.

Within-grade General Schedule increases that were delayed because of the shutdown
are retroactive to the date they were originally scheduled to take effect.

Federal News Radio has received multiple emails from federal employees asking if
they will be paid for the furloughs taken this summer due to sequestration. The
law does not address pay for these furloughs.

Q: When will I get paid?

An OMB spokesperson said Thursday morning that, "back pay will be provided for
[all] federal employees in their next paycheck."

Employees paid by the Defense Finance and Accounting Service — civilian
employees at the Defense Department, Veterans Affairs and some other agencies
— will receive back pay in their next check on or around Oct. 25, according
to spokesman Steve Burghardt. However, employees will have to make sure their
time-and-attendance forms are submitted and approved on time, he said.

DFAS doesn't anticipate any technical challenges in processing back pay, Burghardt
said. DFAS never ceased operations because of the shutdown and remains fully
staffed.

"It's just a matter of folks making sure that their time sheets are submitted on
time and approved," he said.

At least one agency, the Social Security Administration, is planning to give its
employees part of their retroactive pay before their next scheduled paycheck.

"Our working plan is that an initial payment for Oct. 1 through Oct. 5 will be
deposited into employee accounts on Tuesday, Oct. 22, or Wednesday, Oct. 23. The
payment will be a partial advance of the salary owed for Oct. 1-5," stated an
internal SSA email obtained by Federal News Radio.

Federal employees were paid for time worked through Sept. 30 — the last day
before annual appropriations lapsed. However, feds' most recent paycheck on Oct.
11 omitted pay for the first week of the shutdown.

Colleen Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, said NTEU is
pushing for an interim paycheck to make up for lost pay from
the shutdown instead of making employees wait for their next regularly scheduled
paycheck on or around Oct. 25.

Q: Will the back pay bill cover pay for the Columbus Day holiday for
all employees?

All federal employees will be paid for Columbus Day, according to OPM's updated
guidance. "Excepted" employees who worked on the holiday are eligible for holiday
premium pay.

Also, if an employee was regularly scheduled to work on Columbus Day but, for
whatever reason was furloughed, the employee is now entitled to holiday premium
pay, according to OPM's guidance.

Q: Will I be paid for overtime worked during the shutdown?

"Excepted" employees, who remained on the job through the shutdown, are eligible
for overtime pay, according to OPM's official shutdown guidance. It is not
inconceivable that some feds will be able to take advantage of the extra pay,
given that many agencies were operating with only skeleton staffs during the
shutdown.

Excepted employees are also eligible to receive Sunday premium pay, night pay,
availability pay and other premium payments, according to OPM's guidance.

Also, employees who were regularly scheduled to perform overtime work or to
receive other forms of premium pay, such as night pay, but were furloughed are
still eligible for those premium payments, according to OPM.

Q: Will the shutdown affect my accrual of sick leave and annual
leave?

Typically, if employees are placed in a nonpay status — a furlough, for
example — for more than 80 hours in a biweekly pay period, they are not
eligible to earn annual and sick leave for that period.

However, because the back pay bill retroactively restores all federal employees to
pay status for the duration of the shutdown, their sick leave and annual leave
will also be retroactively accrued, according to OPM.

Employees' furlough days related to the shutdown will be treated as excused
absences, according to OPM, and won't eat up employees' paid leave balances, such
as sick leave or annual leave.

Q: If I received unemployment during the shutdown, do I have to pay
it back?

Yes. Employees who applied for and received unemployment benefits will have 60
days to refund those benefits, according to the D.C. Department of Employment
Services. (Click here for the full report
on WTOP.com).

About 1,700 furloughed employees received benefits from D.C. totaling about
$500,000 in benefits.

Payment plans of up to six months are also available. The department is using
email, robocalls and snail mail to notify recipients. The department will seek to
garnish the wages of employees who don't pay up.

Q: Does the law address the 1 percent pay increase?

On Aug. 30, 2013, President Obama exercised his statutory alternative plan
authority, granting federal employees a 1 percent pay increase in 2014. In order
to block the pay raise, Congress would need to pass legislation specifically
addressing the raise. The law passed Wednesday night does not include any mention
of the pay raise, which, by default, still allows for the 1 percent pay increase
come Jan. 1.

"The government shutdown was a real punch in the gut to federal workers who were
already reeling from multi-year pay freezes, sequestration cuts and furloughs, as
well as threats to health and retirement benefits. These hardworking public
servants did not cause our economic crisis, but they paid a heavy price," said
Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.) in a press release. "I'm proud we were able to fulfill our promise
to make them whole again with back pay and finally break through the pay freeze
with a modest adjustment for next year," said Senator Cardin.

Of course, Congress does still have some time to address the issue before the Jan.
1 deadline.

Q: What's in the bill?

The bipartisan measure passed in the House and Senate
Wednesday night, and the president signed it into law early
Thursday. It provides
funding for federal agencies through Jan. 15 and extends the government's
borrowing limit through Feb. 7. It also provides funding for back pay for
furloughed feds and essential employees that worked during the shutdown.

The bill passed in the Senate by a vote of 81-18 and in the House by 285-144.
Obama signed the bill hours after the House gave final approval.

Q: When do I have to report back to work?

The Office of Personnel Management's website provides the official operating status of the government. At 12:30
a.m. on Oct. 17, 2013, OPM posted the following notice on it's website:

STATUS: OPEN

Due to the enactment of a continuing resolution, federal government operations are
open. Employees are expected to return for work on their next regularly scheduled
work day (Thursday, October 17th for most employees), absent other instructions
from their employing agencies. Agencies are strongly encouraged to use all
available workplace flexibilities to ensure a smooth transition back to work for
employees (e.g. telework, work schedule flexibilities, and excused absence for
hardship situations).

Office of Management and Budget Director Sylvia Burwell issued a memo to
department and agency heads early Thursday.

"Today, the president signed a continuing resolution that brings employees back to
work and reopens many government
functions. All employees who were on furlough
due to the absence of appropriations may now return to work. You should reopen
offices in a prompt and orderly manner," Burwell wrote in the memo.

In a statement released shortly after the memo, Burwell said, "In the days ahead,
we will work closely with departments and agencies to make the transition back to
full operating status as smooth as possible."

NTEU's Kelley said earlier Wednesday she gets the impression agency managers are
willing to be accommodating toward employees as they return to work.

"Employees have just been through an unbelievable couple of weeks, through no
fault of their own ... there's an understanding that employees have really been
through a lot and that [managers] are going to work with them," she said.